A Tiger and a Serpent
by BirdieInATree
Summary: The relationship between these two is bound to be interesting. Sima Yi never really had a reason to discuss much with a lesser mind before.  Oneshot


Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors or any characters from the franchise. At all. Don't sue.

Okay, so symbolism galore, with some interesting moments thrown in. I added in some things to hint that our lovely wire-wielding tactician is more human, see if you can catch them. Also, the girl doesn't exist in history, so her name might end up causing problems. I don't speak Chinese. The title is a shout out to one of my favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Remember the Three Musketeers? Yeah, that guy.)

This was written pretty quickly, so I expect a lot of mistakes. May be rewritten or even expanded, but don't get your hopes up. This is based in Dynasty Warriors 6, but can be read with a quick look at his weapons for the game even if you have never played. Enjoy and please review!

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A Tiger and a Serpent

A young women walked into Sima Yi's private chambers, a wooden box cradled in her arms. He was standing next to the chest that held his clothes, already dressed in a lightweight robe for sleeping. He was inspecting a black glove on his left hand, though his right was bare. The other glove lay on the chest, apparently useless at the moment.

The strategist didn't look up when she appeared in his door, but a thought tugged at the back of his mind. _Ce Qi, good. Anyone else would think me suicidal. Dramatic Weis…_

"Are those new?" She said after setting down the box in her arms.

"Yes; I'm not sure where I will use them though." He inspected the dark glove a bit closer, tugging at the hidden wires with his bare right hand. "They are a bit harder to use. I reinforced the palms to be blade resistant, but I didn't count on it slowing the wires or shortening their range."

She smiled and walked over to him, "Making them that strong though is impressive. Now swords can't touch you."

The tactician looked down slightly to meet her eyes, "Not exactly, I was planning on using it to grab an opponent's weapon by the blade." He turned it over for her to see that the palm was made for gripping things.

"I see, you won't have to use much force and risk breaking the padding. Good for an ambush, relieve them of their weapons and then garrote them." She paused, "But I guess the lessened speed could make getting in without sounding an alarm more difficult."

"So you see my dilemma." He made a mental note to look into garroting later, slow and slightly messy, but quiet if done right. _Ce Qi, you are definitely a good addition to the ranks. _The girl hadn't always been with Wei; originally she was an ally of Wu. As a low-ranking strategist, she was mostly present at smaller battles. Sima Yi suspected she had been chosen more as an extra pair of eyes on a map. Zhou Yu, Lu Meng, and Lu Xun handled the rest. Although Yu had commended her on her plan for an ambush that succeeded even though they lacked height advantage, which was fairly notable in its own rite.

He was brought back to the moment when Ce Qi ran her calloused hand over the glove. He wasn't surprised, she had no aversion to weapons, and he stole another moment in the past when she had watched, fascinated, as he fought with the rather unique weapon.

"Why are there claws?" She asked, running a finger across the top of one of his covered fingers. "I can't think of an advantage-"

"There is none." He silenced her. She looked up, clearly confused. "In the original design, the wires ended up tangled occasionally, and I needed something just in case they did in a tight spot so when I extended the fingers I added claws." She nodded, and looked closer at the way the weapon worked to understand a bit better.

"Are they sharp?" She asked. He started to hold up his left hand, but she stopped him. He almost stopped her too, but she succeeded in making a slight slice on the side of her left hand.

"You would." Sima Yi sighed and reached into his robe draped on the wardrobe to retrieve a handkerchief to clean up the blood.

"Cut myself on purpose?"

"No, ask that question and then cut your hand open." He said with a slight smile in his voice. He knew though, this girl was not as foolish as his last comment made her seem. He was about to do the same, but her hands were more calloused and still heavily scarred from a life of work.

In fact, that was what caught his eye, when she was a prisoner working as a slave for a short time. She carried firewood to them, and she didn't flinch at the bark cutting into her hands. After questioning her and finding her to be much smarter than a lowly servant, he learned about her past as a strategist and even before that, working on a small family farm. He closed the deal on having her as an assistant when he learned she had studied with an old scholar who once worked for a mercenary as a tactician. He told himself it wasn't because she had described her teacher as a hermit who had simply taken a liking to her.

She looked up into his eyes. "I like them." _I knew she would say that._

He glanced at the box on the table behind her and stepped around her small frame to open it. "Go?"

"A servant brought it to me. Apparently Lord Cao Cao has good taste in hobbies and thought a tactician would be good at a game like this."

"I take it you've never played, or at least never won."

"That hurts. It really does." She feigned offense, and stepped closer to him.

"It was intentional." He brought his hand up to her face and lightly brushed the claws across her cheek and along her jaw, and smiled as she pressed her face closer to his hand. He lifted her chin up to kiss her gently.

"Hmmm… What was that? I suppose I'll just-" She started to back away, but realized his clawed hand was hovering right next to the thin material of her nightgown and, more importantly, the tender flesh on her back. She couldn't maneuver around his larger body without getting caught on a dangerous weapon.

"You were saying?" He said, and pulled her close again, this time for a heated kiss.

"Do all strategists have the ability to get whatever they want?" She said after they broke apart for air, leaning her head on his chest.

"My dear, it isn't ability." They didn't speak, they had agreed time and time again on what they shared.

Ambition.


End file.
